Shelter using semi-rigid flexed walls



Oct. 20, 1970 D. P. GELLERT 3,534,514

SHELTER USING SEMI-RIGID FLEXED WALLS Filed Dec. 15, 1968 INVENTOR.DONALD I? GELLERT ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 20, 1970 3,534,514 SHELTERUSING SEMI-RIGID FLEXED WAI LS Donald P. Gellert, Charlotte Amalie, St.Thomas, Vll'glll Islands, assignor to Sunbird Industries, Inc., St.Thomas, Virgin Islands, a corporation of the Virgin Islands Filed Dec.13, 1968, Ser. No. 783,669 Int. Cl. E04b l/32, 7/08 US. C]. 52-80 12Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present shelter employs wallswhich are semi-rigid or somewhat flexible. There are two such walls oflike configuration with matching parts of their periphery being curvedand joined by means having a hinge action which afiords flexing andspreading apart of the walls, except at the curved joined parts whichare exposed generally upward, somewhat like a roof ridge. Portions ofthe free edges are secured in spread relation on the ground or on a basesuch as a concrete slab. The sides may be a sector of a circle, thearcuate edges being joined, the lower radial edges being spread andsecured on the ground or base, and the other radial edges beinggenerally upright. The open space between the sidewalls may be closed byan upright wall. The curvature of the joined edges results in someoutward bowing of the sides when spread apart, and additional means maybe provided to increase the convexity of the side walls, which increasesthe volume of the shelter.

There is need for a shelter which is portable, or which may beprefabricated, shipped in compact condition, and easily erected at aselected site. The underlying principles of the present improvement areapplicable to shelters of small or large size. An example of a smallshelter is a beach cabana intended to partially shield one or twopersons in seated or lying position. An example of a larger structure isa vacation but for summer living, or a bungalow or house for all-yearliving. The shelter also may be used in industry for the protection ofproducts being stored.

The present shelter employs walls which are semi-rigid or somewhatflexible. They may be made of plywood or of a plastics materiallaminated in sheet form with fabric or woven fibre glass. Walls oflarger size may consist of multiple panels secured edge to edge by meanswhich holds them in alignment at the adjoining edges, so that themultiple panel wall flexes in much the same fashion as though made of asingle panel.

The shelter comprises two such walls of like configuration, withmatching parts of their periphery being curved and joined by meanshaving a hinge action which affords flexing and spreading apart of thewalls, except at the curved joined parts. The joined parts are exposedgenerally upward, somewhat like a roof ridge, while the re maining edgesare free to be spread apart. At least portions of the spread edges aresecured in spread relation on the ground or a base surface such as apoured concrete slab.

In most forms of the invention the remaining portions of the spreadedges are generally upright. In one form the two like sides areapproximately a sector of a circle, the arcuate edges being joined, thelower radial edges being secured on the ground or base, and the otherradial edges being generally upright. For an enclosed shelter the openspace between the side walls near the generally upright edges is closedby an upright wall, and this wall is conveniently given one or moreopenings provided with closures such as a door or window.

In another form the two like walls may be defined by a curved top edge,a bottom edge, and two end edges,

in which case the bottom edges are spread apart and secured to theground or base, and the spread end edges are the generally uprightedges. This structure, if enclosed, employs two upright end walls.

In still another form, the two like side walls are each defined by anare somewhat less than a half circle, and by two bottom edges somewhatless than 180 apart. The arcuate edges are joined, and the configurationis such that when the side walls are spread apart, all four bottom edgescome approximately into a plane, and may be secured to the ground or aconcrete slab or other base. This structure is enclosed withoutrequiring the use of upright end walls.

In all forms the curvature of the joined edges results in some outwardbowing or flexing of the sides when spread apart. At the generallyupright free edges the sides may be nearly straight. However, any means,such as a spreader between the side walls, or the upright end wallpreviously mentioned, may act as a means which holds the joined edges orroof ridge at a somewhat reduced elevation, and this increases thebowing or outward convexity of the side walls. This improves the outsideappearance of the structure, and increases the interior volume of theshelter, or makes it more useful for most purposes.

The foregoing and additional features are described in the followingdetailed specification, which is accompanied by drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of sector shaped side walls in flatcondition;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the side walls when spread apart;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation including an upright wall with door andwindows;

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are views respectively like FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, butshowing a modification in which the top and bottom edges are joined bytwo end edges;

FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 are views respectively like FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, butshowing a modification in which the curved wall has a more complexcurvature;

FIGS. 10, 11 and 12 are views corresponding respectively to FIGS. 1, 2and 3, but showing a modification in which the sides are sectors whichare nearly a half cycle in configuration, the shelter being enclosedwithout need for an upright end wall;

FIGS. 13, 14 and 15 are views respectively like FIGS.

. l, 2 and 3, but showing how a side wall of large dimension may bebuilt up of multiple panels secured edge-to-edge by means which causesthe panel to flex much as though made of a single piece of material;

FIG. 16 is a fragmentary section showing one method of securing adjacentpanels together; and

FIG. 17 is a fragmentary view showing another method of securingadjacent panels together.

Referring to the drawing, and more particularly to FIG. 1, there are twolike semi-rigid flexible walls, one of which is shown at 20, and theother of which is disposed directly behind the wall 20 in face to facerelation, the walls at this time being flat. A part 24 of the peripheryis curved and joined by means having a hinge action, here sug guested bythree hinges 26, but of course a greater number may be used, and even acontinuous strip of hinge material may be used. These curved edgesremain joined in edge to edge relation, and in the structure shown inFIGS. 2 and 3, the joined edges are exposed generally upward, somewhatlike a roof ridge. The remainder of the peripheries, in this case theedges 28 and 30, are free of one another, and adapted to be spreadapart. The edges 28 are secured in spread relation on the ground, or toa base surface such as the concrete slab and foundation shown at 32 inFIG. 3. The remaining spread edges, in this case, the edges 30, aregenerally upright.

In the specific case shown in FIG. 1 the configuration of the two likesides 20 and 22 is a sector of a circle, and it is the arcuate edges 24that are joined. The bottom edges 28 which are secured to the ground orbase are radial edges, and the generally upright edges 30 are the otherradial edges.

In the case of a small open structure, such as a beach cabana, the spacebetween the side walls near the upright edges 30 is left open. However,in the case of a larger structure which is to be fully enclosed, theopen side is closed by a generally upright wall indicated at 34 in FIGS.2 and 3. This wall may have one or more openings with closures acting asa door 36 and/ or windows 38.

In preferred fom the curved hinged edge 24 is preferably sealed, as bymeans of long narrow strips of sealing material bent to inverted V shapeand secured about the curved edge as is indicated at 40 in FIG. 2. Thisstrip serves as roofing material. By selection of an extruded flexibleplastics material the strip may itself act as the hinging material forthe side walls. A sealing strip would not be required or used for asmall beach shelter or cabana intended to protect only against wind andsun.

By comparison of FIGS. 1 and 2, it will be seen that when the side wallsare spread apart, the generally upright edges 30 tip forward or outward,thus providing an overhang indicated at 42 in FIG. 2. The ridge peak iscorrespondingly lowered. In FIG. 1 the sector is somewhat less than aquadrant or 90, Whereas in FIG. 2, the sector appears to be somewhatgreater than a quadrant or 90, this change resulting from the spreadingapart of the side walls.

In FIG. 3 the side walls at their edges 30 have been drawn straight. Itshould be understood however that cross sections taken further back,will have some convexity or outward curvature. This flexing of the wallsresults from the curved edges 24 remaining enforcedly in edge to edgerelation.

The convexity of the side walls may be increased by lowering the topridge or peak of the structure. This is not shown in FIG. 3, but may beexplained with reference to FIG. 9. In FIG. 9 the ridge or peak 44 hasbeen lowered from the dotted line position 44' to the solid lineposition 44, and this causes the side Walls to convex from the dottedline position 46' to the curved condition shown in solid lines at 46.

The change in question may be obtained by pulling the ridge peakdownward in any desired fashion, and in practical cases, this is done byappropriately shaping the up right wall which closes the open end of theshelter. The same result may also be produced by any form of tensionmember pulling the ridge downward toward the base.

This action incidentally somewhat increases the overhang at the ridgepeak, as is shown in FIG. 8 by the change from the broken line position44 to the solid line position 44. The same principles apply to thestructure shown in FIGS. 1-3, the only change needed being appropriateconfiguration and dimension of the upright end wall 34, the end wallthen serving as a means to convex the side walls 20 and 22. In mostpractical cases such convexity may be preferred, because it makes forgreater useable interior space, and improved external appearance.

It will be understood that the side walls are secured to the base by anyappropriate fastening means, here schematically represented at 54. Inthis case of a rudimentary srtucture such as a beach cabana, the bottomedges 28 may be sunk or pushed for a short distance into the sand or,more elaborately, by using sand anchors."

Referring now to FIGS. 4-6, the two like pieces or side walls thereshown are defined by a curved top edge 60, a bottom edge 62, and two endedges 64 and 66. The bottom edge may be straight but is preferably givena slight convexity downward. The curved top edge may conform to the arcof a circle and acts as the hingedly joined edge, here indicated by thehinges 68.

In FIG. the side walls have been spread apart at the bottom, and thistends to straighten the bottom edge 62, that is the two bottom edges liesubstantially in a horizontal plane. The resulting shelter may be openat both ends, or if desired may be closed by generally upright end Wallsindicated at 70. The top edges or ridge are preferably sealed by a longnarrow strip of material 72 bent to inverted V shape and secured to theside Walls, as previously described for the structure of FIGS. 1-3. Hereagain one or both end walls may be provided with a door 74 and/orwindows 76. Moreover, the structure may be secured at its lower edges toa suitable base such as the concrete slab shown at 32 in FIG. 3,although this slab has been omitted in FIG. 6 to save space on thedrawing. In FIG. 6 the side walls are shown substantially straight, buthere again it may be preferred to convex the same outwardly, and thismay be done by appropriately shaping the end walls 70 and/ or by the useof tension means as indicated by the broken line 47 in FIG. 9 pullingthe ridge of the structure downward.

FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 illustrate the fact that the curved joined edges neednot conform to the arc of a circle. In fact, the flexible nature of theside walls accommodates more complex curvatures such as that shown at inFIG. 7. This is sinuous and is joined by multiple hinges suggested at82. The substantially straight edge at 84 is secured to the ground orother base. The substantially straight edges 86 are generally upright,and in the present case provide some overhang even before the side Wallsare spread apart. Mere spreading of the side walls will lower the ridgeline somewhat as indicated at 80 in FIG. 8, and this increases theoverhang as indicated at 44 in FIG. 8. If the side walls areadditionally outwardly convexed, as by tension means 47, as shown at 46in FIG. 9, the ridge line is lowered still further as shown in solidlines at 80, and the protective roof overhang is increased as shown inFIG. 8 by the change from broken line corner 44 to the solid line corner44.

The upright end wall 88 conforms to the desired convexity of the sidewalls and may be the means for producing a desired convexity, aspreviously explained. Here again the end wall 88 may have a door, assuggested at 90, and may have additional fenestration if desired. Asbefore the structure is preferably secured at its bottom edge to theground, or more desirably to a suitable base such as the concrete slabshown in FIGS. 3 and 15. The slab is omitted in FIG. 9 to conserve spaceon the drawing.

Still another form of shelter embodying features of the presentinvention, may be described with reference to FIGS. 10, 11 and 12. Inthis case the two like sides are defined by a circular arc 92 which issomewhat less than a half circle, and are further defined by two bottomedges 94- and 96, which are somewhat less than 180 apart. Differentlyexpressed, in this form of the invention the side walls are still asector of a circle but the sector is nearly a half circle in area. Thesurved edge 92 is the hinged edge, as suggested by the five hinges 98.When the side walls are spread apart the four bottom edges 94' and 96come approximately into a common plane as shown. in FIG. 11. At the sametime the ridge 92 is lowered somewhat, and in FIG. 11 appears to be afull half circle. Here again, the ridge may be sealed by a strip ofsuitable sealing or roofing material indicated at 100, or by othersuitable precautions. The strip 100 may be designed to also serve as ahinge for hinging the side edges together. Here also the structure ispreferably secured at its bottom edge to the ground or more preferablyto a suitable base such as a concrete foundation slab, not shown.Although no door and fenestration is indicated in FIGS. 10-12, it willbe understood that either or both of these may be provided in the sidewalls. In that connection, it will be understood that in FIGS. l-9, adoor and/or fenestration may be provided in the side walls, althoughshown only in the end wall where they are most easily, conveniently andinexpensively provided.

As so far described the side walls are assumed to each be a singlecontinuous panel of semi-rigid but somewhat flexible material. In thecase of a small structure such as a beach cabana, this is readily done,but in the case of larger structures, each side wall may consist ofmultiple panels secured approximately edge to edge, as shown in FIGS. 13through 16. In FIG. 13 each side wall is made up of 8 panels, thelargest ones of which shown at 102 may be of standard plywood size, thatis 4 by 8 in dimension. Three panels are of full size and the others arecut somewhat smaller to provide the desired curved edge or ridge 104. Asbefore the curved edges are joined or hinged as indicated at 106.

The adjacent edges are secured by means which holds them in alignment.One such means employs covering strips indicated at 108 in FIG. 16.These strips cause the large-area multiple-panel side walls to flex muchas though made of a single piece of material, when flexed downwardly asviewed in FIG. 16, that is convexly upward. In FIG. 13 the illustratedsector is a quadrant. When the side walls are spread apart, the ridge islowered and tipped forward to provide some roof overhang as shown inFIG. 14. Although not so shown in FIG. 15, the side walls may beadditionally convexed, as previously described. The bottom edges aresecured to the ground or to a base such as the concrete foundation slab110, the fastening means being schematically suggested at 112.

Instead of using fastening strips such as the strips 108 previouslyshown, the multiple panels may be secured by direct overlap as shown inFIG. 17. In FIG. 17 a panel 120 is secured to the adacent panel 122 byan overlap shown at 124. A line of fastening means is required alongonly one edge as indicated at 126, this being the edge which tends toseparate or open up if the panels 120 and 122 are bent downward, thatis, convexly upward at the overlap 124. It will be understood that aline of fastening means 126 near one edge is adequate, because the leftedge of panel 122 tends to bear against rather than to separate frompanel 120 when the panels are being convexed upwardly.

The side walls may be made of plywood, with a thickness dependent on thesize. In small size the thickness may be about A, inch, and in largersize, say up to sixteen feet radius, the thickness may be about inch.Other materials which may be used are Masonite in a grade designed forexterior use, aluminum sheetings, aluminum ceramic sheeting, steelsheeting, fibre glass impregnated with epoxy, fibre glass impregnatedwith polyester resin, acrylic sheeting, a sheet material known as ABS,corrugated cardboard surfaced with polyethylene, and others.

For integral hinging by means of a strip made of a plastics material theplastic used may be polypropylene as an example. Conventional metalhinging may be used, supplemented by an extruded strip, and in bothcases the extrusion may be H shaped in cross section to receive theupper edge of each of the side walls.

The structure may be finished with a surface treatment using marine deckpaint, siding paint, acrylic paint, or by using fibre glass and epoxy.

In small size the structure may be used as a beach cabana, dog house,tool shed, ticket booth, etc. In larger size it may be used as awarehouse, a sleeping shelter, a vacation house, a military shelter, andfor other purposes.

It is believed that the method of constructing, assembling and using myimproved shelter, as well as the advantages thereof, will be apparentfrom the foregoing detailed description. It will also be understood thatwhile the improved shelter has been described in several preferredforms, additional changes may be made Without departing from the scopeof the described invention.

I claim:

'1. A shelter comprising two like semi-rigid flexible walls, matchingparts of their periphery being curved and joined by means having a hingeaction afi'ording flexing and spreading apart of the walls except at thesaid curved joined parts which remain joined in edge to edge relation,said joined parts being exposed generally upward somewhat like a roofridge, the remainder of the peripheries being spread apart, at least aportion of the spread edges being secured in spread relation on theground or base surface, the configuration of the two like sides isapproximately a sector of a circle, the arcuate edges being the joinededges, the lower radial edges being secured on the ground or base, theother radial edges being the generally upright edges.

2. A shelter as defined in claim 1, in which the remaining portions ofsaid spread edges are generally upright.

3. A shelter as defined in claim 2, in which the open space between thesides near the generally upright edges is closed by a generally uprightwall.

4. A shelter as defined in claim 1, in which the two like sides are eachdefined by a circular are somewhat less than a half circle, and twobottom edges somewhat less than apart, the arcuate edges being thejoined edges, and the configuration being such that when the side wallsare spread apart the four bottom edges come approximately into a plane,and are secured to the ground or base.

5. A shelter as defined in claim 1, in which each side wall consists ofmultiple panels secured approximately edge to edge, adjacent edges beingsecured by means which holds them in alignment at the adjoining edges,so that the large-area multiple-panel side walls flex much as thoughmade of a single piece of material.

6. A shelter as defined in claim 1, in which the open space between thesides near the generally upright edges is closed by a generally uprightwall.

7. A shelter as defined in claim 3, in which the generally upright wallhas one or more openings with closures acting as a door and/or window.

8. A shelter as defined in claim 1, in which there is a means holdingthe joined edges or ridge at a reduced elevation such that the sidewalls are convexed outward.

9. A shelter as defined in claim 2, in which there is a means holdingthe joined edges or ridge at a reduced elevation such that the sidewalls are convexed outward.

10. A shelter comprising two like semi-rigid flexible walls, matchingparts of their periphery being curved and joined by means having a hingeaction affording flexing and spreading apart of the walls except at thesaid curved joined parts which remain joined in edge to edge relation,said joined parts being exposed generally upward somewhat like a roofridge, the remainder of the peripheries being spread apart, at least'aportion of the spread edges being secured in spread relation on theground or base surface, in which the two like pieces are defined by acurved top edge, a bottom edge, and two end edges, the side walls beinghingedly joined along the curved top edges, the bottom edges beingspread apart and secured to the ground or base, and the spread end edgesbeing the generally upright edges.

11. A shelter as defined in claim 10, in which there are two generallyupright end walls secured between the spread apart side walls near thegenerally upright edges.

12. A shelter as defined in claim 11, in which the generally uprightwall has one or more openings with closures acting as a door and/orwindow.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS JOHN E. MURTACH, Primary ExaminerUS. Cl. X.R.

